Danny Miller

The Resource-Based View of the Firm in Two Environments: The Hollywood Film Studios From 1936 to 1965

This article continues to operationally define and test the resource-based view of the firm in a study of the major U.S. film studios from 1936 to 1965. We found that property-based resources in th...

A Preliminary Typology of Organizational Learning: Synthesizing the Literature

Two fundamental contrasts among major organizational paradigms are used to construct a typology of organizational learning: these are voluntarism vs. determinism, and methodical vs. emergent behavior. Six kinds of learning are identified: the methodical modes, in descending order of voluntarism, include analytic, experimental and structural learning. The emergent modes, again in descending order of voluntarism, include synthetic, interactive and institutional learning. Hypotheses are generated about the appropriate contexts, typical outcomes and common relationships among these kinds of learning.

People matter: commitment to employees, strategy and performance in Korean firms

The human element of enterprise is argued to be a vital resource for strategy execution. We show in a study of Korean businesses how an organization’s commitment to its employees’ well-being (OCE) can aid in the profitable execution of its positioning strategies. We found that OCE, by itself, sometimes has a weakly positive association with return on assets (ROA). But far more important, we found that ROA is strongly and positively influenced by the interaction between OCE and the dedicated pursuit of Porter’s (1980) strategies for achieving competitive advantage: these are cost leadership, marketing differentiation and innovative differentiation. In short, dedicated positioning strategies appear to be executed more effectively where organizations exhibit a high level of commitment to their employees; and conversely, OCE is apt to have a strong impact on ROA only in the context of a dedicated, that is intensive and thorough, positioning strategy. Copyright

Strategy, Environment and Performance in Two Technological Contexts: Contingency Theory in Korea

This paper examines the range of application of strategic contingency theory. Its thesis is that as technologies and economies become more open to market forces, the tenets of contingency theory become increasingly relevant. The Korean economy seemed an ideal venue for testing this notion as it is very heterogeneous in the effectiveness of its technological regulation. Many Korean companies employing traditional technologies are able to benefit from government intervention, whereas most of those using emergent technolo gies — even in the same industry — are forced to compete internationally and are very much more subject to competitive market forces. We found that Korean companies using emergent technologies were more likely to do well if they heeded contingency prescriptions in making strategy: specifically, if they employed innovative and marketing differentiation strategies in uncertain environments and cost leadership strategies in stable contexts. On the other hand, companies that used traditional technologies were less apt to benefit from matching strategy to environment. In short, strategic contingency literature was found to apply more to businesses employing emergent technologies than to those using traditional technologies. Notions from institutional and contin gency theory and from the literature on cross-cultural management are used to interpret these findings.

The people make the process: commitment to employees, decision making, and performance

This study argues that a well designed decision making process will have its most positive impact on company financial performance when it is carried out by a capable, motivated and dedicated workforce. Prior research has determined that such a workforce can be developed via an organization’s commitment to its employees (OCE) in the form of ample training and compensation, fairness, and meaningful personal consideration. We argue that OCE will enhance financial performance where it is able to improve the quality of a decision making process that emphasizes ample information processing, collaboration, and initiative. Conversely, these three dimensions of decision making are expected to be of little value where OCE—and hence a capable and motivated workforce—are lacking. These expectations were borne out in our study of Korean companies. Specifically, we found positive associations between return on assets and the interactions between OCE and information processing, collaboration, and initiative, respectively. We found also that these interactions contributed the most to return on assets in uncertain environments, where effective information processing, collaboration and initiative were especially important.

Strategic Responses to Three Kinds of Uncertainty: Product Line Simplicity at the Hollywood Film Studios

This paper explores the impact of Milliken’s (1987) three kinds of uncertainty on product line simplicity--specifically on the range of product variations a firm offers. Environmental state uncertainty represents an inability to forecast industry or market events; it results in part from the demand and competitive volatility facing aU firms equally in an industry. Organizational effect uncertainty represents an inability to predict the effect of any given environmental state or event on one’s own firm; it results in part from a lack of skills, knowledge and resources that couM help managers understand or influence market reactions. Finally, decision response uncertainty represents an inability to predict the consequences of a specific decision. It derives from the ignorance and risks perceived in making individual decisions. The thesis of this research is that whereas environmental state uncertainty will give rise to product variations, paradoxically, organization effect and decision response uncertainty will discourage such variations. These ideas are explored and largely supported in a study of the film genres of the major Hollywood film studios between the years 1936 and 1965.

The Evolution of Strategic Simplicity: Exploring Two Models of Organizational Adaption

Some companies compete in a comprehensive and multifaceted way, paying close attention to costs, quality, marketing, expansion, and innovation. Others embrace much simpler competitive strategies and concentrate on just one or two of these elements. This paper examines the causes and consequences of such strategic simplicity in two very different environments: the stable furniture industry and the more turbulent software industry. It was found that a “passive” model of organizational adaptation applied in the former industry: firms simplified their strategic repertoires unless managers felt their firms were threatened or unless the firms had built in slack resources. Thus, simplicity was inversely related to managerial discomfort and administrative slack, and positively associated with financial liquidity. By contrast, an “opportunistic” model of adaptation seemed to characterize the behavior of companies in the more turbulent computer software industry. In this setting, firms tended to expand their repert...

Parental work schedules and adolescent depression

Abstract Using a large contemporary United States data set, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Supplement (NLSY-CS), this paper examines the relationship between parental work schedules and adolescent depression at age 13 or 14, paying particular attention to the mechanisms that may explain this relationship. Analysis based on structural equation modelling showed that increased work at night by mothers was significantly associated with a lower quality of home environment and fewer meals together, and this mediator was significantly linked to increased risks for adolescent depression. In addition, evening work by fathers was significantly associated with lower paternal closeness and this mediator was significantly associated with increases in adolescent depression. In contrast, irregular shifts by both mothers and fathers increased the likelihood of mothers knowing where the child was and this relationship in turn reduced adolescent depression. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

Celebrating the “Essential:” The Impact of Performance on the Functional Favoritism of CEOs in Two Contexts

This paper argues that an organization’s performance can influence the extent to which CEOs favor the importance and competence of one functional department above all others. Specifically, financial success induces such favoritism in CEOs, not in stable but in uncertain environments where there is a good deal of scope and motivation for attributional opportunism and superstitious learning. Financial weakness also induces functional favoritism on the part of CEOs, not in uncertain but in stable environments where conditions are right for escalation of commitment and threat-rigidity responses. These findings were confirmed using subgroup regressions, moderated regressions and two-group LISREL analyses.